Traditional board games, or table games, are games played with counters or pieces that are placed on, removed from or moved across a board. The board is a pre-marked surface specific to the game being played. Simple board games are often ideal entertainment wherein interaction between the players is valued (e.g. family entertainment). Board games became widely popular in the 20th century. Given the wide popularity with consumers of all ages, many different types of board games have been developed over the years. Popular board games include, but are not limited to: MONOPOLY®, CLUE®, RISK®, LIFE®, SCRABBLE®, TRIVIAL PURSUIT®, chess, checkers, etc. These exemplified board games have been available for generations as a testimonial to their lasting popularity.
Video games were introduced as a home entertainment medium in the 1970's with systems such as ATARI® and COMMODORE®. Over the past two decades the video and computer game industry has experienced sustained growth to become a $10 billion dollar industry. Many board games are now available as computer games, including the option to have the computer act as an opponent. The rise of computers has led to a relative decline in the most complicated board games, as computers require less space, and the games don't have to be set up and cleared away. With the Internet, many board games can now be played online against a computer or other players. Some web sites allow play in real time and immediately show the opponent's moves, while others use e-mail to notify the players after each move. Some board games make use of additional components, aside from the board and playing pieces. Some games use video cassettes, CDs and DVDs to provide an accompaniment to the game. A genre of DVD games makes use of the interactive features of DVDs, such as a “quizmaster” for trivia games.
There have been attempts to construct a game board which offers advantages of both traditional board games and computer or video games. Such combined systems can be capable of detecting the presence of playing pieces at different locations on the game board and may be capable of identifying the pieces.
The following patents describe position sensing boards, some of which are capable of differentiating between different playing pieces on a game board system, including U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,928, U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,385, U.S. Pat. No. 5,853,327, US Pub. No. 200/0248091 A1, US Pub. No. 2008/00041110 A1, the disclosure of each is incorporated herein in their entirety.
There is therefore a continuing unmet need to provide for a flexible electronic board game apparatus for universal multiplayer table-top or surface board game play to eliminate the need for a household to have a collection of multiple traditional board games taking up space and risking loss of game pieces.